


Tying the Knot

by Nary



Category: Adventure World (Game)
Genre: Arranged Marriage, Asexuality Spectrum, Awkwardness, Bisexual Male Character, Declarations Of Love, Developing Relationship, F/M, Fingerfucking, First Time, Kissing, Light Bondage, Mildly drunk sex, Oral Sex, Post-Coital Cuddling, Sexual Inexperience, Vaginal Sex, Wedding Night, Woman on Top
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-08
Updated: 2019-01-08
Packaged: 2019-10-06 12:40:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17345405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nary/pseuds/Nary
Summary: "Officially, this is your job," Dianthea said, gesturing to the knotted belt at her waist.  Laris, having some familiarity with knots, had little trouble unfastening it.  Earlier, the untying had been ceremonial, the cord used to bind their hands together symbolically.  Now it was practical, so that Dianthea could remove her silk gown, sliding it off once she'd unhooked the brooch that pinned it at her shoulder.





	Tying the Knot

It was late at night when the new bride and groom were finally ushered into the bedchamber together. Outside, the celebration continued, but they were finally alone with one another. Laris looked around - fortunately, they hadn't been put in his father's room. That would have been awkward.

Instead it was his former childhood bedroom, now a nicely decorated and not-at-all childish chamber that he suspected Calkas had been involved in setting up. The bed was draped with flowers and greenery, symbolizing the new union and the hopes that were bound up with it. In particular the hopes for its fertility, although Laris tried to put that particular issue out of his mind for the time being. 

"It looks lovely," Dianthea said. "And there's a decanter of wine over here in case we need that." She smiled slightly - each of them had been offered so many drinks that evening that they had lost count, and even though they'd tried to keep from getting completely drunk, they were certainly both a little tipsy.

"I think perhaps not right now," Laris said, remembering Calkas' advice that while a few cups of wine might help him relax, too much would cause its own set of problems. He hoped he was in the ideal range now - just inebriated enough to take the edge off his nervousness, not so much that he would be unable to fulfill his duties tonight, or simply pass out from exhaustion as soon as they lay down. Dianthea had confided in him earlier that she was nervous about tonight as well, so at least they were both in the same boat.

"Well, maybe we should get undressed," she suggested after a moment, reaching up to remove the silver and opal circlet that held her veil in place. "I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to getting out of these fancy clothes."

Laris nodded, and began to unwrap the heavy wool toga that he was wearing. It would be a relief to no longer have to deal with the unwieldy length of fabric, at least. Setting it aside left him in just his tunic, which was considerably more comfortable. 

"Officially, this is your job," Dianthea said, gesturing to the knotted belt at her waist. Laris, having some familiarity with knots, had little trouble unfastening it. Earlier, the untying had been ceremonial, the cord used to bind their hands together symbolically. Now it was practical, so that Dianthea could remove her silk gown, sliding it off once she'd unhooked the brooch that pinned it at her shoulder. Underneath it, she had only a few delicate strips of cloth to support her small breasts, and a skimpy loincloth tied at the hips. Laris looked away instinctively, still feeling as though he shouldn't be gazing at her in this state, but she stepped closer and took his hand in hers. "Help me with this," she said softly, showing him how to unwind the bands and complete the process of disrobing her. 

When they had finished that task, she turned her attention to his remaining clothing, helping to remove his tunic, running her hands lightly down his bare chest as she did so. "May I?" she asked, arriving at his loincloth in due course, and Laris only hesitated for a moment before nodding. They had slept together before, but just sleeping, and never completely naked. But of all the things he was nervous about tonight, this was fairly low on the list. Dianthea's gaze roamed over him as she finished undressing him, lingering in a few significant areas, while Laris tried not to feel self-conscious. Being a little intoxicated no doubt helped.

"I've never seen a naked man like this before," she confided shyly. "Not up close. Not so close that I could touch..." Her fingertips brushed against his hip, not venturing anywhere more intimate quite yet, but suggesting a great deal more to come.

Laris was surprised to learn that, in fact, he had more experience with women than she did with men, even with his limited knowledge. "Well, ah, perhaps we should get into bed," he said, a bit awkwardly.

"Alright," Dianthea agreed, taking his hand and leading the way to the bridal bed that had been laid out for them. "All these leaves," she said, sweeping some of them aside as she drew back the sheets. "We could pretend to be in a forest, at this rate."

Laris smiled at that. "I suspect this is rather more comfortable, though." 

"True," Dianthea said. "Silk bedding, very elegant." She slid into the bed, drawing Laris in after her. "Ooh, this does feel nice!" she added with a giggle, spreading her arms out to enjoy the feel of the sheets against her bare skin.

Laris tried to think back to his instructions from Calkas, his lessons from Sahhiru, but right now it was all a blur in his mind. He told himself not to be nervous, which was futile, and to remember to take things slowly, which was basically inevitable. _Ask her what she wants,_ came a half-recalled thought. "May I... kiss you?"

Dianthea giggled again at that. "Yes, of course." Their lips met somewhat clumsily as Laris leaned over and she rose halfway up to meet him, connecting somewhere in the middle. It improved, though, when she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, easing both of them down until they were reclining together. The kissing continued, growing more languid, each touching the other's cheeks, running fingers through one another's hair. It wasn't passionate, at least not yet, but more exploratory - getting accustomed to each others' bodies, the feel of each others' skin.

"You can show me what you want me to do," Laris said between kisses. "If... if you have particular instructions, that is."

Taking his hand, Dianthea drew it to cover her breast. "Here," she said. "I like being touched here. And," she added, more shyly, "if there is something you want me to do, you can show me, too."

Laris nodded, his attention focused for the moment on the delicate breast she'd guided him towards. He rubbed his thumb over her nipple, feeling how it tightened and stood out against her soft skin as he did so. Dianthea drew her breath in with a gasp, but smiled encouragingly when he did it again. "That feels nice," she murmured. "Maybe it feels nice for you too?" She brought her hand to his chest and teased one of his nipples until it grew hard, followed by the other.

"It does," Laris told her. "I don't know if it's exactly the same, but it's quite, ah, pleasant." Sahhiru had told him in passing that women's breasts tended to be more sensitive, but had noted that there was a fair amount of variability across the sexes. He didn't figure that now was the right time for bringing up that subject, though, however academically interesting it might be. 

"You can kiss them too," Dianthea suggested. Laris complied, bowing his head over her softly rounded breasts in order to deliver gentle kisses along their smooth slopes, rising up until he reached the peak of her nipple and pausing there to devote some additional attention to the summit. "Ohhh," she sighed, shifting slightly against him. Taking that as a positive sign, Laris continued his ministrations, licking the darker skin of her areola. Dianthea bit her lip and wrapped one hand around the back of his neck to keep him there a while longer.

Laris wouldn't have minded doing this for as long as she wanted, as it wasn't very complicated and seemed to be enjoyable for her. Eventually, though, Dianthea released her grasp on him and drew him up to give her another kiss. "That's lovely," she said, smiling shyly. "Can I touch you more now, though?"

"Certainly," Laris replied, although he wasn't entirely sure what she had in mind. He allowed her to roll him onto his back, with her stretched out alongside him so that she had full access to his body. She started out by trailing her fingers across his chest, over the fine lines of his dragonmark and proceeding down to his stomach. Laris tried to relax, to release some of the tension he felt, torn between uncertainty and desire. He wanted more, but wasn't sure how his body would respond. Dianthea would occasionally look up into his face, looking perhaps for some sign of how to proceed or what he was feeling, and Laris forced himself not to look away, suspecting that she might be hurt or concerned if he did so. 

"Can I keep going?" she asked, her hand resting lightly just below his navel. 

"Yes," Laris said, "just... gently." He wasn't hard yet and didn't want to alarm her if she wasn't used to how things might change once she started touching him.

Dianthea nodded and, as requested, started by lightly running her fingertips along his length. It was so gentle that it almost tickled, and Laris gave a nervous little gasp, making her draw away, a bit startled. "It feels good," he told her, wanting to reassure her that it wasn't anything she was doing wrong. "You can, ah, well, you don't need to be quite _that_ gentle."

"Show me," Dianthea said. "I don't want to be too rough." She laid her hand back on his cock, looking up at him for guidance. "How do you do it?"

"I... don't, very often," Laris told her, his face hot with embarrassment. "But I can show you." He wrapped his hand around hers, giving her an idea of the pressure she could apply, before starting to slowly move her hand back and forth. "Something like that," he said, letting go so that she could continue on her own.

Dianthea kept going as he'd shown her, watching with a curious expression on her face. "It normally takes a little while, right?"

Laris wasn't sure if she meant normally for most men, or normally for him, but settled for nodding. "I prefer to go slowly at first," he told her. 

"Mmm," she said, blushing. "Rufus told me it might be like that." She glanced up at Laris' face to see if she'd made a grievous faux pas by mentioning his lover.

"Did you ask him about me?" Laris wasn't sure how he felt about that, but decided that, of all the ways she might have tried to prepare for this night, talking to Rufus was probably one of the most sensible. At least he was relatively confident the vryloka hadn't given her a hands-on demonstration.

Dianthea nodded. "I thought... who knows you better? And he's my closest male friend, so even if he wasn't your partner, I probably would have asked him for advice about... about men in general."

"That makes sense," Laris agreed. Part of him wanted to know more of what they'd said about him, but part of him wasn't sure he wanted to know. "Was it helpful?"

"Very informative," she told him. "Rufus had some good suggestions. Mostly he said to take things slowly, and that you would, um, come around eventually." She kept on stroking him as she talked, and somehow the steady flow of conversation (no doubt combined with the several earlier cups of wine) helped Laris to relax enough that he began to stiffen in her grasp. "Oh!" she exclaimed, looking down at her fist curled around his gradually-thickening cock. "That's... interesting!"

"Interesting?" Laris asked with a faint smile.

"I didn't know what it would feel like," she said. "People talk about men getting hard, so I suppose I imagined it would be more like stone," she added, with a nervous laugh. "It's not, though, it's still quite, ah, flexible."

"It will get harder, but no, not like stone," said Laris. "Even when fully erect, it maintains a certain... suppleness."

Dianthea smiled. "I suppose that's for the best. It might be rather uncomfortable otherwise. For you as well as others."

"It would be somewhat inconvenient, I think," Laris agreed. "Especially as it can sometimes happen while one is sleeping, or in other situations where it might not be desirable."

"Well, the jokes and sayings people have make it seem quite uncontrollable," Dianthea said. "Like it has a mind of its own."

Laris considered that. "It's not entirely under one's conscious control, no... but that doesn't mean it's completely impossible to control either, as much as some people might claim it is. The physical response can be involuntary, but what someone does about it is up to him."

Dianthea nodded, pausing slightly. "So... you don't normally do anything about it?"

The subject had been bound to come up sooner or later, he supposed. "I do if my partner might enjoy it," Laris told her gently. "It isn't something I usually have a particular interest in doing just... of my own accord. But I like making someone I care about happy. I enjoy the closeness and the intimacy. I like the sensations," he added, "like what you're doing now - it feels pleasurable to me." She smiled, giving him a light squeeze that made him bite his lip. "But I don't have an overwhelming demand for it," he continued, once he could formulate his thoughts more clearly again.

"Rufus said something about that," she nodded. "He said usually you wouldn't, ah, initiate things, but that you enjoyed it once someone else started it."

"That sounds about right," Laris agreed. "Although in our case, I... well, there are other factors that might influence our decisions about when and how to... engage."

"Like children?" Dianthea suggested, glancing up at him.

"Yes, like children," he said, choosing not to mention his father's imperative instructions to produce an heir as soon as possible. "But there's no hurry for that," he assured her, electing not to worry about that particular issue tonight.

"Good, since it could take quite a long time," she replied. "It's not uncommon to take years to conceive, even if both partners are young and in good health and enthusiastic."

"Are you?" Laris asked cautiously. "Enthusiastic, that is."

Dianthea paused in what she was doing. "If I'm being completely honest... I don't really know yet. I like sex, but most of the sex I've had hasn't been with men, so I'm not sure what it will be like. I'm willing and interested to try things with you, though."

"We're similar in that regard, then," Laris said, taking her hand and giving it a kiss. "If you'd like, there's something else we can try - perhaps something more familiar to you."

With a gradual smile, Dianthea nodded when she realized what he was offering. Laris guided her to lie down, and moved gingerly to lie between her legs. She parted them, still nervous perhaps, but without much hesitation, allowing him to take up a position with his head between her thighs. Sahhiru had said that every woman was made differently, that he shouldn't be surprised if Dianthea's innermost parts were not the same as others, and so Laris simply took a moment to drink in the sight - delicate petals of pale grey, framing a darker hollow within. Then he slid his arms under her legs, lifting her easily so that he could draw her closer. Dianthea gasped and then gave a soft moan as he began to lick her. He was relieved to find her taste was not unpleasant, actually quite the opposite in fact. Trying to follow what he could remember of Sahhiru's instructions, he didn't immediately focus on her clitoris, but circled around it with slow, wet strokes. It seemed to be a good choice, as she moaned again and said, "Again..."

As it turned out, this was another task Laris would have been content to do for as long as she wished. The sounds she made allowed him to readily determine whether he was doing something she enjoyed, and she gave guidance when he drifted off course. "Here," she would say, adjusting her hips slightly, or, "Yes, like that," or simply squirmed eagerly when she wanted him to keep doing what he was doing. Giving her pleasure was a pleasure in and of itself, and she responded readily to his efforts. He could tell that she was getting wet, her moisture spreading all down his face, but wasn't sure how close she might be to climax, or whether he ought to keep going or stop before she reached that point.

Dianthea, however, was quite willing to answer that unasked question for him. "More, ohh, please don't stop!" she begged, and so Laris redoubled his efforts. Her thighs were trembling beneath his hands and she whimpered with each flick of his tongue against her clit. Laris recalled some other things he could try, but didn't want to lift his head long enough to ask, in case it interrupted her rise. He settled for stroking her legs, feeling how taut and tense they were, encouraging them to relax under his touch. If she was anything like him, too much tension could hold her back as much as too little arousal. At last it seemed that she found the perfect balance, allowing herself to give in with a cry that she half-stifled behind her hand and a shudder that shook her slender body. "Oh, gods," she gasped, and then gave a sudden burst of laughter.

"Is everything alright?" Laris asked, finally lifting his mouth off her.

"Absolutely," she replied. "I'm just... relieved. I don't know why I laughed. Come here, I want to hold you."

Laris crept up to lie beside her, wrapping her in his arms. "Relieved?"

"Glad that it went well. That..." She hesitated, nestling up against his shoulder, glancing up at him. "That whatever else might happen, there are things we can enjoy together.... I mean, if you enjoyed that," she added.

"Very much," he assured her. "I liked knowing that you were taking pleasure from me... that is, from what I was doing, at any rate."

"From you," she corrected him. "It's not purely a mechanical process, you know. It helps that it's with someone I care about... and someone I find attractive," she added, blushing. 

Laris gave a bemused smile at that. "I'm glad, then. But if that was enough for tonight, I understand." 

Dianthea laughed. "Oh, no, that doesn't have to be enough - unless you want to stop?"

"Not really," Laris told her. "There is more we could do." He shifted slightly, nudging up against her thigh with his cock so that she could feel how hard he was. Dianthea peeked down, looking surprised and rather intrigued. 

"I guess you _did_ like that," she said, smiling as she reached down to touch him, less hesitant than before. Laris gave a little twitch as she grasped him, and Dianthea squeaked, startled. "Oh! Is it, um..."

"This is, ah, all the way there," Laris said awkwardly. 

"Hmm." She fondled him gently, exploring the way he felt in her hand. "I was going to ask, though... is this considered, ah, average sized?"

Laris didn't have a lot of basis for comparison, if he was honest. He knew that he was smaller than Sahhiru, and similar in size to Rufus, more or less, but beyond that he hadn't had many other chances to see how he measured up to other elduar men. Hobgoblins definitely didn't count. Maybe that was something else to ask Sahhiru about, later. "I suppose so?" he said, trying to be noncommittal. 

"Well, um, I only ask because... I'm quite small, and I sort of wondered about how things might... fit together," she said, a bit uncertain. "Merula told me not to worry about that too much, though. She said that if we were both ready for ... for that, then it would be alright."

"I think it will be," Laris agreed. "After all, even people very different in size - much more different than us - seem to manage somehow."

Dianthea nodded. "I'm sure you're right, and it will be fine." Her thumb grazed over the exposed tip of Laris' cock, making him gasp. "Oh, right," she said. "That part is more sensitive."

"Rather a lot, yes," he told her, catching his breath. "You don't need to stop, though."

Smiling, she did it again, seeming to enjoy the response she could evoke with a simple motion of her hand. "It's getting a little bit slick, too."

Laris nodded. "It's part of getting... ready, as you said." He felt a certain restless ache building inside him, and knew that if he was going to be able to relax and rest tonight, he would need some sort of release first. Still, he wanted to make sure. "We could keep doing this," he told her, "and with some time and patience, I could, ah, reach my climax from this alone. But if you want to do more, we should stop for now - to, ah..." He wasn't sure how to explain it, and the steady motion of her hand was distracting.

"To save it for later?" Dianthea asked, a playful smile on her lips. "I did hear that men can usually only do it once in a night."

"Well... it's not impossible to do more, but perhaps let's not push our luck for the first time," Laris said with a faint smile in response. 

Dianthea slid her hand around to his hip instead, leaving his cock alone for the moment. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but I'm curious - what are some things you like to do with men?"

Laris averted his eyes, mildly embarrassed. "A lot of it isn't so different," he said. "Hands, mouths... those are similar whether you're with a man or a woman. Didn't Rufus tell you some details?" he asked, hoping maybe he could get out of explaining further.

"On that front, mostly I heard about what Rufus likes - but we talked less about the technical aspects and more about how to approach things in general. I'm interested in what would feel good for you, beyond just the basics that is." She bit her lip, plainly a bit nervous herself. "If you are usually the, um, receiving partner..."

"Bottom," Laris interjected, figuring she might as well know the right terms. 

"Yes, that. If that's your preference, is there something I could do to... to help with that?"

"Potentially," Laris said, but took her hand and gave it a kiss that was intended to be reassuring, rather than discouraging. "But you don't need to do anything you aren't interested in. I'm not expecting this to be the same as it would be with a male partner, but that doesn't mean I'm unhappy with what it is. You are my wife," he said softly. "We will figure out what works for us - both of us."

"My husband," she said, running her hand through his short hair. "I thought it would feel strange to say it, but I'm starting to get used to it." She leaned in and gave him a kiss. "There was one thing Rufus mentioned that I might be able to try tonight."

"Oh?" Laris wondered what in the world Rufus might have suggested. 

Dianthea had a hint of a smile playing about her lips. "He happened to say that sometimes you liked being, ah, restrained. I wasn't too surprised, given the ropes and equipment I've seen at your villa."

"Our villa," Laris reminded her. "It's yours as much as mine, and I'm happy to share as much or as little of that area with you as you prefer. But all of that equipment is back home - there's nothing to work with here."

"There's one thing," Dianthea said, getting up from the bed and moving through the moonlit room to gather up something from where they'd discarded their clothes. Triumphantly, she held up the long silk cord that had earlier belted her gown, the untying and retying of which had served as a symbol of their new union.

"Ah," said Laris, blinking in surprise. "Yes, that could be... interesting."

Dianthea came back to the bed, crawling in so she could kneel beside him with the cord coiled in her hands. "What do you want me to do with it?"

Laris considered. "It depends," he said. "Do you want me to have my hands free for this, to be able to touch you? Or would you like having me, ah, more immobile?"

Now it was Dianthea's turn to weigh the choices in front of her. "I think for this time," she said, "I want you to have your hands available - they might come in handy," she added with a giggle.

"Then I'd recommend tying my ankles," Laris suggested. "I'll still be able to move somewhat, but it will mean you can take control."

"Show me how," Dianthea asked, and Laris obliged. He helped her to fasten the long cord around one of his ankles, then showed her how to pass it under the bed in order to come up the other side and reach his other ankle. When she was finished, he tested the bonds, making sure they were fastened snugly before he lay back on the bed.

Dianthea climbed over him so that she could kneel between his spread legs. "I like how this looks," she said, taking in the view before her. She ran her hands over his calves, up to his thighs, and Laris gave a little shiver. Dianthea smiled and did it again, grazing his skin lightly with her nails. Then she reached for his cock once again, finding it as hard as before. "I think you like it too, Dominus Corvis."

"Yes," Laris said, his voice hoarse with nervous anticipation, and then corrected himself to a firmer, "Yes, Domina."

Dianthea blushed at being addressed as "Domina," but looked pleased as well. She gave his cock a few more strokes, admiring the effect she could have on him with just a touch of her hand. Laris squirmed against his restraints, but couldn't move too much. He felt comfortable this way, more under control, even as she coaxed him into a greater state of arousal.

At length she let go of him and crawled up to straddle his waist. Laris swallowed hard as she leaned forward, small breasts pressing against his chest, so that she could give him a kiss. Her white hair hung loose, gleaming in the pale light that permeated the room. "I want more now," she murmured, edging back ever so slightly so that her slick lips rubbed against his cock. 

"Yes," Laris gasped. He wasn't sure how best to help her, but he took his cock in one hand to keep it steady, hoping that she could manage it from there. Dianthea lifted herself up slightly, trying to find the right position, the right angle, to take him inside her. She grimaced, not quite finding it, until Laris managed to ease his head just up to her entrance, and she slipped onto him in a sudden rush. The feel of her was intense, gripping him completely. Whimpering slightly, she held herself there, neither of them capable of moving yet. "Is it alright?" he asked after a moment to catch his breath.

Dianthea shifted just a little, experimentally, and gasped again. "It's... fine," she managed to say, but there was still a slight edge of discomfort in her voice that made Laris worry he was hurting her. He reached up hesitantly, running his hands over her slender waist and up to her breasts, cupping them so that he could see if that improved matters at all for her. Dianthea grasped his wrists, nodding eagerly. "Yes, do that," she urged him. 

Emboldened by her clear instructions, he teased her nipples, and drew a soft moan from her lips. She moved atop him again, lifting herself by a few inches and then sliding back down again with a gasp, but one that sounded less pained this time. After a few more such attempts, she was riding him more smoothly, and Laris was willing to try responding in kind. He rocked up against her, meeting her as she reached the bottom of her stroke, a motion that elicited a sharp intake of breath from both of them. "Keep going," Dianthea said, leaning forward so that she could brace her hands against his shoulders. "Do what feels good for you."

"I would like it to feel good for you too," Laris said. "Not something you just... endure." 

Dianthea smiled at that. "I know. I'm not just putting up with you, Laris. And I'm not made of glass - you won't break me. You're my husband, and I want this. And right now, what I want is what feels good to you."

Laris didn't want to say that he didn't know what that would be, that this was still such a new experience that he wasn't certain. Instead he tried moving again, pushing into her as she straddled him, hoping it was the right thing to do. The ties around his ankles held him tight, but he could still thrust by raising his hips, even though his movements were restricted. Dianthea moaned and rocked against him in response, tossing her head so that her hair flowed down her back in a cascade of moonlight. As he watched her, awestruck for a moment by her beauty, she brought one hand to the place where they were joined and began rubbing herself. At that prompting, Laris remembered what he had been trying to do before, and resumed fondling her breasts. "Yes, mmm, more of that," Dianthea sighed, leaning into his touch.

It was all a lot to keep track of, and Laris was starting to feel overwhelmed. He closed his eyes and struggled to keep control, to focus on what felt good: the soft swell of her breasts in his hands, her warm, wet cunt surrounding his cock, the soft sighs and moans she was making with each thrust, the snug grip of the belt around his ankles. He tried to listen to what his body was telling him, to allow himself to take what she was offering. His thrusts became more steady, less uncertain, and swifter as well. "Good," he heard Dianthea whisper, and felt her match his pace. 

Laris' imagination drifted to remember how it had felt to fuck Sahhiru like this, to think about Rufus' hands and mouth on him, and while those thoughts helped to stoke his fires, he felt guilty about them too. He was with his newly-wedded bride, and he ought to be thinking about her. He opened his eyes in order to see her face again, to remind himself of where he was. She was astride him, looking down at him, her cheeks flushed and hair falling over her shoulder again, disheveled and beautiful at the same time. "Dianthea," he murmured, reaching up to touch her cheek. 

She turned her face against his hand, kissing his fingers. "Yes, Laris..."

"I want... need to..." He couldn't quite get the words out, but she seemed to understand despite his tongue-tied state.

"Mmhmm, yes, come for me, husband," she said, and then gasped as he plunged into her, filling her with a sudden rush. Laris gave up on maintaining control, trusting that she would guide him. His need was too overwhelming to be denied. Dianthea cried out as he shuddered inside her, burst after burst of his seed pulsing against the entrance of her womb. Finally the blaze of desire receded and he fell still, only shivering with the occasional aftershock. She leaned down to kiss him, carding her fingers through his short hair, keeping him inside her a little longer yet.

At last she drew off him, making them both gasp, and slid down to lie beside him. "That was good, but I still want more," she said, breathless.

Laris' eyes widened. "I... ah, well, maybe in a little while I could try again..." he said, somewhat dubious but willing to make the attempt if that was what she wanted from him.

"Oh, no, it's alright," she assured him with a grin. "Here... just use your fingers." She took his hand and guided it between her legs. Laris had to twist a bit awkwardly, given that his legs were still restrained, but he managed to reach. Dianthea showed him how she wanted to be touched, moving against his fingers to help him get the right speed and level of pressure. She was slick beneath his touch, elusive, slipping away from him, but he kept trying, and she kept readjusting him if he moved too far off track. "There, oh, just like that," she moaned, twisting and arching up with a quick, hard motion that took him off guard. He kept up the steady flick of his fingers as best as he could, and soon she gave another sharp cry and then fell back against the bed, trembling all over and making soft whimpering sounds.

Laris tried to reach over to embrace her, but he was still bound and couldn't reach far enough to envelop her the way he wanted to. "Ah... just a moment," he said, and sat up, somewhat awkwardly, to untie himself. Once he got one leg freed, the other followed, and he could resume cuddling her in a more satisfactory fashion. Dianthea rested her head against his chest, still occasionally giving a little shiver as the intense aftershocks faded away. Her breathing gradually steadied again, and she felt soft and relaxed in his arms.

He thought about telling her that he loved her, and his worries soon drifted back from wherever they had been banished to for a little while. What if she didn't feel the same way about him? What if he made the moment uncomfortable when they should have been resting contentedly? But he had resolved to try to be honest with her, and that included about his feelings. He was just mustering up the courage to say something when Dianthea spoke instead.

"That was... really nice," she said. "I was nervous - well, we both were - but I thought it went better than expected."

"It did," he agreed. "I... appreciated your guidance, and your willingness to try new things."

He could feel the way she smiled at that. "And you as well." She lifted her head up a little so that she could look at him. "Husband... it still sounds unfamiliar to me, but I think before too long it will become such a normal thing to say that I'll forget it ever seemed strange."

Laris nodded. "I love you, my wife." He bit back the urge to say more, to tell her she didn't have to reciprocate his feelings, to apologize for how he felt, to wish he hadn't said it. It was true, and he couldn't change the truth.

Dianthea looked surprised, but not unhappy. "Laris... it's good to hear you say that. I love you too. I know this marriage might not be... what either of us would have chosen, if we'd been completely free to choose, and it might not be conventional either. But we'll work on it together." She nestled her head back against the crook of his arm. "Right now, though, I'm exhausted."

That, Laris could agree with wholeheartedly. It had been a long, difficult day - week, even. At least now, he thought, the hardest part was over with, and they could rest together, undisturbed. Tomorrow, they would start the day together as husband and wife, and figure out where they would go from there.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on Tumblr at [naryrising](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/naryrising) if you want to ask questions, make requests, or chat!


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